Capital Facts for Providence, United States

Rhode Island flagNicknamed the Creative Capital and the Renaissance City, Providence is the state capital for Rhode Island and is America’s 24th-most highly populated state capital city. Founder and religious exile Rogers Williams named the city area in honor of “God’s merciful providence” as a haven for his followers to settle.

Guinness World Records identifies Providence, Rhode Island as where Kevin “KRob” Robinson achieved the longest back flip using a power-assisted bicycle which covered 84 feet (25.6 meters). The Providence-based record was set after Robinson’s second try after crashing on August 13, 2016 during a live TV event called “America’s Navy Presents World of X Games KRob Flips Providence.”

Providence serves as headquarters for two major corporations recognized as belonging to the Forbes Global 2000 world’s biggest companies. These large businesses are Citizens Financial Group and advanced technologies industrial conglomerate Textron.

To commemorate the ascension of King Leopold I to the throne back in 1831 on July 21, Belgians celebrate Ascension Day as a public holiday each July 21.

Within city limits, Providence occupies 18.5 square miles (48 square kilometers). The state capital’s population was 179,207 Providentians in 2016.

Also called the Providence Metropolitan Statistical Area, the Providence metropolitan area has a land area of 1,635.8 square miles (4,236.6 square kilometers) with a metropolitan area population of 1.615 million inhabitants.

At the city level, Providence’s population density is 9,687 residents per square mile (3,733 per square kilometer).

Population density dilutes within the larger Providence metropolitan area with an average 987 inhabitants per square mile (381 per square kilometer).

Providentians celebrate Independence Day as a national holiday each July 4.